1. Field of Invention
The present invention generally relates to indoor glass enclosures, and more specifically to adjustable enclosures for indoor shower areas.
2. Description of Related Art
Indoor shower facilities typically include a shower with a door assembly, at least partially enclosing the shower to reduce verspray from the shower. Typical shower enclosure areas may include corner units installed in a corner of a bathroom, walk-in shower enclosures, partitions attached to the wall of bathtubs, or other similar structural arrangements. These different shower enclosure door assemblies have one or more panels attached in a hinging manner to the frame of the enclosure. In many circumstances, the door frame of the shower area is customized, misaligned, or fabricated in some other non-standard manner. As a result, a standard door assembly or closure device will not fit correctly or may be difficult to operate due to the misalignment, unless time consuming and costly alterations are made to the standard components of the door assembly.
Prior shower closure systems incorporate a hinge post rotatably connected to a hinge stile. In many systems, it is desirable for the bottom of the hinge stile to be raised with respect to the hinge post to allow for clearance for base members, dams, or other members or frames. An extension at the bottom of the hinge post serves this purpose. In some closure systems, the door is to swing in a certain direction, for example away from the shower closure area. In some applications, the outward swinging door is to be mounted on the left side of the closure area, and in other applications the outward swinging door is to be mounted on the right side of the closure area. To maintain this outward-swinging orientation of the door, the hinge post and hinge stile must be inverted, or placed upside down, to move these members from being mounted on one side of the shower closure doorway to mounting on the other side.
In these systems, in order to provide for a hinge post extension at the bottom of the hinge post, the hinge post must be manufactured to an excess length that provides for both a top extension above the top of the hinge stile, and a bottom extension below the bottom of the hinge stile. At the job site, once the proper orientation of the hinge post is determined, the top extension is cut away so that the respective tops of the hinge post and hinge stile are flush, while the bottom hinge post extension remains.
It is an object of the present door assembly to enable interchangeable right or left placement of standard hinge post and hinge stile members without the need for cutting or customizing at the job site.